Favorite shoot 'em ups (like Galaga or Gradius)

[Torgo]

My favorites are these in no particular order. There are a couple ones that are for the PC that you can try if you are a shoot 'em up fan.

-Asterial - PC
This one was made by Gibbon Games. The enemies are blobs of light with smile faces indicating how aggressive they are. The reasoning behind using blobs of light is that he feels that it should be concentrating on how you play rather then the enemies.

-Warblade - PC
This game is a sequel to Deluxe Galaga made for the Amiga. It plays similarly to that game, but also has a ton of secrets. It offers many types of weapons and upgrades that will keep you playing for a long time. A neat feature is that you can have 2 aliens on your side shooting with you, though it doesn't stay unless you unlock a secret.

-Galaga - Arcade
Ah Galaga, a classic one. My favorite feature has got to be using two ships at once, it was such a cool concept when I first played it. The bonus rounds were fun as well. If you are a shoot em' up fan, chances are you have played this.

-Tempest - Arcade
This is very original shoot em' up. Instead of going left and right, or up and down, you get to move in the outline shape. Every stage has a different shape, so every level felt different. You control a boomerang type thing and shoot at any sort of line, shape whatever that comes at you.

Enough about my favorites, what about you?

 

[iStepable]

Never did played them as much but the only one I can think was Gradius series.

 

[Sik]

Battle Squadron and Verytex, yay! Both are for the Mega Drive, if you're curious :P And very simple (Battle Squadron had to be, it's from 1990, while Verytex... well, let's say it just tries to be nothing complicate, just a normal shooter with normal features and nothing strange).

EDIT: argh, I just thought in old games :P Ether Vapor is quite recent (released last year, I think Sonicfreak94 said) and is extremely good. Welcome to the next level, anyone? It's free. Here's the download link:
Ether Vapor is actually a doujin game, and is for pay for the real version. As this link lead to the full version, it has been deleted. Try downloading the demo off of their home page here: http://edelweiss.skr.jp/works/ethervapor/index.html

 

[Chaos]

Galaga Arrangement.

The new powerups, the awesome enemies, and levels are just cool.

 

[Mystic]

Oh man, there are so many great ones, but if I had to choose a favorite, it would probably be Galaga. I have no idea how many quarters I've stuck into those machines. Other than that, I really love Ikaruga (can't beat the 4th boss ;_;), Lords of Thunder, and the Parodius series.

 

[Sik]

Ether Vapor is actually a doujin game, and is for pay for the real version. As this link lead to the full version, it has been deleted. Try downloading the demo off of their home page here: http://edelweiss.skr.jp/works/ethervapor/index.html

Wait a second, Ether Vapor is a paid game? Argh, stupid Sonicfreak94, he told me it was freeware! >_< Remind me to kill him next time we meet.

 

[Billy]

Silpheed

 

[Shadow Hog]

I'll openly admit that I haven't played too many shmups... but one did particularly captivate me for a good while.

Let's see what this game did right, shall we?

• Deep storyline. It's short, but very, very chilling.
• Incredible soundtrack. "Return" and "The Stone-Like" are probably some of the best tunes in video gaming history, period.
• Nix collectible powerups entirely - you have ALL the weapons from the start.
• Leveling up weapons by using them - sure, the above was true, but they're rather weak unless you max out the score you obtain using each one.
• Chaining - sure, it was in Ikaruga, but here it actually has a purpose OTHER than just nabbing you an awesome score (leveling your weapons up so you stand a fighting chance of actually beating the final boss before it self-destructs). Besides, here you have three colors to contend with, as opposed to Ikaruga's two.
• Dogs! (Seriously, they're everywhere, but they're invisible and you can only uncover them with ONE of your seven weapons - talk about obscure!)
• And of course, the GIANT FREAKING BOSS BATTLES. They're practically what make this game. Ikaruga has, like, one at the end of each of its five stages? Yeah, Silvergun has around six in the first stage alone - I haven't even bothered to count how many there actually are total. All of which are made of various individual pieces, and you get a major bonus for destroying every last piece of it before you land the killing blow - although every boss has a hidden timer, and if it expires while you're wasting time destroying every nook and cranny of the boss, you get no points at all. Risk vs. reward at its finest.

The only flaw the game has, really, is that it's so damn expensive, and only in Japanese. But hey, if Ikaruga does well on XBLA, maybe Treasure'll put forth the effort to bring this to the Western masses at a reasonable price? I can hope.

 

[light dasher]

Ah you beat me too it shad. I like/d that game too =P

 

[Vulpeka]

radien and xevious are my favorites